• Home |
• About Us |
• Our Clients |
• Our Team |
• Contact Us |
• Testimonials

When to lead and when to manage?

We have established that there is a difference between the activities of leadership and management. What we will consider in this article is when to choose to do which.
If leadership is primarily a big picture, large scale, vision, future oriented and proactive planning activity then it follows that a leader will be involved in these activities at key times and specific stages in the Business planning cycle i. e. at the start of and throughout this process which most organisations undertake on an annual basis, towards the end of one financial or business year and in preparation for the next. This annual planning cycle often includes a review of the long term strategy set for the 3 - 5 years. Sometimes organisations also review this plan mid-way through the year - especially if the business is not performing well against it's plans or if the marketplace or competition is changing significantly. This long term strategic planning process often involves the development of a vision, mission and values for the business. However it does not make sense to continually change these basic building blocks because by definition they are or should be of a long term and enduring nature setting the future direction for the business. To misquote Monty Don you don't grow a tree by continually pulling up the plant to see how the roots are progressing!
However there is an ongoing leadership role to keep key employees and stakeholders informed of the progress & performance of the business through good communication, to inspire and motivate people to perform. There is also the requirement to keep the top team of the business working well and appropriately resourced.
So what about managing the day to business in a more detailed day to day, operational and reactive focus - when should we be doing this?
By definition this is a more regular, day to day, short term focus where managers need to ensure that the basic business product or service is in good order, that your customers are satisfied and orders fulfilled and that the business is meeting its performance targets on a regular, periodic basis.
It follows that if key Leaders spend too much time managing the short term and not looking to the future then things can go awry and in the wrong direction.
Equally if managers spend too much of their time and energy looking to the future and not enough time focusing on the day to day then the business can also go off track.
There is a balance to be struck with these activities which effective managers and leaders are able to strike. If they don't then your business is at risk.